Mold stepping device for centrifugal casting machines



oct. 12, 1926. 1 1 1,602,426 L. CAMMEN v,

MOLD STEPPING DEV-ICE Fon CENTRIFUGAL CASTING MACHINES Filed April 5, 1926 5 Y A Y' 5 7 '65 5 A'wf-fl /4 /5 o I7 25 V24 I6 o 22 l SE1/1 Nw 2 m ////////////////7//////////W 27 I25 2s Y (\f\\l iF, E T4 i.; vl 'i' INVENTOIL @071/ G/rn I Patented 0a. 12,v 1926.

LEON CAMMEN', 0F NEW YORK, N. Y.

MOLD STEPPING DEVICE FOR CENTRIFUGAL CASTING MACHINES.

Application led April 5, 1926. Serial No. 99,865.V

'I he present invention refers to unloading gear devices for centrifugal casting Ina-- chines making .individual bars, and deals particularly with that part of the gear `which controls the motion of the mold. It is called here mold. stepping device, as, be-

cause of thc novelty of the art, there is no accepted technical name for this kind of apparatus, none having ever been devised or built ,for the specific purposes here described4 (previous "to this invention).v In thel illustrations,

Fig. 1 isa general view of the mold stepping device; Fig. 2 is a similar Iview of the bar pulling. device cooperating with the mold stepping device of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 a similar view of't'he valve gear interconnecting the devices shown in Figs. 1 and'2.

When dealing with centrifugal pipe casting machines, the removal-of the casting is a simple matter, as there is obviously only one casting in the machine, and one movement or cycle of movements completes the operation.v In a bar casting machine, however, there may be from four to as many as -thirty-six or more individualibars to remove, which it is obviously impossible to do in one operation. Moreover, in removing the bars it is notdesirable -to drag them over the surface of the barrel of the mold, as Ithis woul wear out the surface and make it rough which in its turn would impart a rough surface to the cast bars. Be-

cause of-this, thev dividing bars 6 were' equipped with shoulders 7, as set forth more fully in U. S. Patent to Leon Cammen, No. 1,553,136, September 8,11925. On account of the presence of these shoulders,

the cast bar 5 (corresponding to 1 and 4 in* the drawing 'accompanying the patent above referred to') atV the top of the mold, or two or three bars at the top of the mold., lie against the shoulders and not against the surface of the barrel of the mold ,and can be withdrawn without hurting the surface of the barrel of the mold. This means, however, that theoperation of withdrawing the cast bars from the mold has to be performed in several stages. A

. The following consideration has also to be taken into` account in order to understand fully the purpose o f'the present invention. Bar casting has to be used with the existing melti-ng equipment, which means open V pair of jaws hearth furnaces, 50 to 120 tons capacity. A bar casting machine will take anywhere from 6 to 20 tons of steel, so that, unless an impractically large number of machines is installed, each machine may have to take more than one batch of metal from each heat, and this means that the machines must be handled with great rapidity, and' the bars withdrawn quickly.

Furthermore, with four to five machinesoperating 'as a unit, and handling large masses of steel, it is 'desirable to reduce the amount of labor handling the machines, and yet in nowis'e impair the reliablity of the sal operation. If -four to five machines are teemed in rapid 'sequence one after another, they will be all operating, at fthe same time, 'but going through different stages of operation,4 so that, e. g. one machine will be teemedhot steel, another will be spinning, a third 'have the bars pulled, while a fourth Iwill be made ready to receive metal. This means that either a man will have to be assigned to each machine, whichwill great- 4 ly increase the cost of labor, or some of the operations will have to be made automatic.

The present invention shows a. 'way to dol this latter.

The bars 5 are cast in a mold consistin of barrel 1 and dividing bars 6 equippe as stated above, with shoulders 7 or equivalent devices in such a manner that inthe 'upper part of the mold the bars 5 lie against .these shoulders and leave a space between them and-the barrel 1 (2 in Fig. 2). The mold may rotate on rollers (not shown) carried by frame 3. Fig. 2 shows a bar pulling device having, among other things, a 8 and 9 so arranged that they are enabled to grab the bar 5, and pull it out of the casting machine through forceV v applied to rod 10. No novelty is claimed for the use of l.such a device generally and apart from the other elements of the apparatus herein set forth and described.

Fig. 3 shows the bar withdrawn from the machine (for the sake of simplicity the'rollers supporting the bar when in the position shown in this illustration are omitted, and the bar lpulling device with its jaws 8 and 9 is shownin a conventionalized for-m). In order to withdraw` the next'bar it is nownecessary toy shift the mold, so as to bring the new bar opposite the jaws of the bar pulling device. This can be doneby turning the mold by hand, or by some mechal atV the bottom of the gear wheel 15, which '15 (or equivalent device, such as a series of holes) having teeth sp'aces 16. In engagement therewith is a device consisting of tooth shaped bar 14 operated through a linkage by rod 12, which may be connectedv e. g.`

with thepiston of a-hydraulic press. This linkage is so arranged that when the bar 12 is pulled allfthe way to the right, the tooth 14 comes out'of engagement withthe gear 15. If no w the rod 12 is pushed to the' left, the tooth 14 engages with the nearest space in the-position shown in Fig. 1 is space 16,

and as the rod 12 continues to move to the i the bars have been withdrawn.

left, pushes 16 into the position occupied in Fig. 1 by 17. In doing so, it turns the mold 1 a step, and brings a new bar 5 to the top of the mold, in a position to be pulled. As shown in the drawing, Fig. 1, thereis one space 16, or 17 to correspond to each dividing barv 6, which means that for each cycle of operations of rod 12 one casting 5 will come to the top of the mold, and one casting will be pulled. If 'necessary however the gear 15 and the stroke of the rod 12 maybe so arranged .as to turn the mold through an angle corresponding'to two or more castings The operation of the device, as described .thus far, consists therefore of the following steps: Jaws 8 and 9 grab casting 5 and through the force exerted on rodl 10, as by a hydraulic device not shown, pull it out of mold 1. While this is being done, the bar 12 and block -28 are shifted to their uttermost position on the right. After casting 5 has been completely pulled out, the bar 12 is moved to the left, and in doing so, it causes the engagement of tooth 14 with 'space 15, and the turning of the mold through one step which brings another casting into a position which makes it suitable for withdrawal. Such operation would however require constant attention on the part of a man to manipulate at proper times the.`

controls setting into motion rods'l() and 12.

.To avoid this, the device shown in its essential features in Fig. 3 has been devised. In this, rod 10 carries piece 11 which is simply a rod or strip of metal. As the rod 10 comes into th'e position shown in Fig. 3, which is the position which it occupies when the casting 5 has been completely withdrawn frommold 1, bal- 11 hits valve handle 1 8 and on the springs in t brings it from a position parallel `to 11 into the position shown in the drawing. In changing its position, handle 18 opens a valve which admits fluid under pressure. in the direction of the arropW (seen at left of 18) into cylinder 21 and thus operate rod 12. In this way,'rod 10 by its motion controls the motion of rod 12. An exactly similar device can be used to control the motion ofrod 10 by that of rod 12. When rod 10 moves into its forward position (to the rightin- Fig. 3), bar 11 moves also forward releasing the pressure on `18. The powerful spring 19 then pulls the handle 18 into sucha 'position that the liquid pressure acts on rod 12 in the opposite direction, and causes it to move tothe right, returning it to the original starting position. The details of the valve arrangement arel not shown, as with 4the above description any engineers skilled in the art would know how to make sucha device operate with Ioil or air under pressure, orby electricalmeans.

Further, a device may be provided to stop the operation of the entire system when all Thus, a disc 30 may be provided with feather springs 31, 32, etc., so arranged that the disc 30 will turn through one ste every time pressure is brought on one o these springs in the direction from riglht to left, but pressure e vo posite direction will not aifectl the disc. There are as'many of these springs as there are strokes by rod 10 tobe made, the disc being so arranged-that every time the rod 10 goes into the position shown in Fig. 3, bar 11 hits one of the springs 31, 32, etc. causing the disc to turn through one step. As the last cast bar comes out, the spring 37, which is lo'nger than the rest, trips the switch 38, and 'discontinues the operation of the system. If desired, the same tripping of the switch' may cause\a light to Hash out, ora bell to ring, or the like, signallinff that all bars are withdrawn. The details of5 construction of this trippin device need not be described here, as wit kthe above description to guide him, any v electrical or mechanical engineer can make such a device to suit his particularconditions. j l A As the needv for a device like the one-set forth and `described above is not apparent where only very few castings are made in a machine, the claims have been limited toa machine producing not'less than four .separate castings at a time. v

There have never been built any machines for extracting castings from oa centrifugal machine where more than four separate castings were cast at a time and the art has been practically non-existent prior to this invention. There are therefore no established names for the various devices described here, and these devices had to be described in the roundabout way employed in this specifi- 'cation and claims.

I claim: 1. In a machine for centrifugal casting means disposed with relation to the mold of said machine to withdraw a part of the cast-` ings therefrom, and coactlng means for moving said moldthrough a predeterminedv angle after such withdrawal.

2. In a machine for centrifugal casting, means disposed with relation to the mold of said machine to withdraw a part ofl thecastl ings therefrom, and means controlled by the ,withdrawal means for moving said mold through a predetermined' angle after such withdrawal. t l

3. In a machine for centrifugal casting means disposed withA relation to the mold of said machine to withdraw a part of-the castings therefrom, mechanism controlled by the withdrawal means for moving the mold of vsaid vmachine t roltih a predetermined angle after suchwi drawal', and adjusting means to regulate the operation of saidl withdrawal means by the extent of the mold movement. l A

4. In a machine for centrifugal casting;

)means for successively withdrawing sai l is wit 'ment tothe machine after l'the withdrawal .of the last ofI castings therefrom,

6. In a machine for centrifugal casting a mold, means disposed with relation t0 sai mold to Withdraw a part of the castings therefrom, engaging meansv upon said mold, andmeans to move saidmold througha predetermined angle, saidlast means co-actinvr with the engaging means on the mold and controlled by they withdrawal ously referred to. v Signed in New York, in the county and State of NeW`York, March 31, 1926.

LEON CAMMEN;

withmeans previ- 

